The Syrian military vowed Friday to "cut every evil hand that targets Syrian blood," saying recent attacks on elite security forces marked a dangerous escalation. According to Friday's statement, six elite pilots and four technical officers died in an ambush a day earlier in Homs.

Meanwhile, human rights sources claimed the Syrian army killed at least 26 civilians on Friday. Some 40 died in Thursday's violence.

In another development, Syria didn't respond Friday to an Arab League deadline to agree to a plan that would have placed observers in the country. According to the AL is now considering tougher economic sanctions against Damascus. Syria’s state-run news agency, SANA, said Friday that the Arab League was a “tool for foreign interference” and that it was causing trouble in the region in the name of Western values.